Creative Strategy and the Business of Design

by Douglas Davis

  THEY SAY: We need a new logo.

  WHAT WE CAN TRANSLATE: The Business Objectives

  A request for a logo usually has a lot of business objectives behind it. For example, a brand manager is responsible for the product portfolio strategy. Therefore, that logo he requested will need to be part of a larger identity or packaging that should facilitate loyalty and be distinctive enough to remain top-of-mind when the consumer is considering a purchase in that category.

  YOUR ROLE AS TRANSLATOR WILL OPEN DOORS

  These types of translations are how you unlock the difference between a one-time transaction and a long-term relationship with your client. Get to the root of why they need what they’re requesting. Once you’ve gotten their attention with your strategic approach, they’re more likely to be willing to take creative risks with you. Speak to the business objectives that keep the client up at night and see what happens. You’ll probably have a similar experience as I did: Once, after being awarded a sizable account, I asked my new client, “Why’d you choose my team?” The client responded, “Because you challenged us.” This was my confirmation that I addressed the key business objectives and understood what the people who were responsible for the business needed to accomplish. Get to the reason behind the request.

  Turning Words Into Inspiration

  Getting to the root of exactly what the client wants sounds like it should be easy, but it often isn’t. Yet everyone needs to agree on and understand the goals of the campaign before you go any further into the process. That’s why it’s so important to broaden your creative horizons to better grasp business goals.

  Everyone on the team—from creatives to the suits—has a different measure of success. Aligning those with specific business and marketing objectives helps everyone get on the same page.

  Sometimes the client or suits won’t ask you for exactly what they need. Read between the lines to find actual business objectives behind their tactical requests. This is what they really need.

  Strategic approaches to creative solutions are grounded in facts and better suited to build long-lasting campaigns on.

  PART II

  Finding Inspiration in Order: Gathering and Organizing Information

  4 You Talkin’ to Me?

  Reaching Your Target on Behalf of the Brand

  I’ll never forget the day I noticed something disturbing about the way Burger King communicated to me while watching music videos on Black Entertainment Television. Visually, the commercial was simply the letters “BK4U” in distressed “urban” typography as if graffiti-ed on a brick wall. While on the screen, what sounded like an African-American male voice chanted “B-K-4-U” several times over video of a mouthwatering flame-broiled Whopper being assembled. I’m sure there were any number of descriptive adjectives specific to why the Whopper was the burger for me. The truth is, it would have worked except for one thing: I specifically remember thinking to myself at 22, “Why did they choose to talk to me that way? I don’t speak that way.”

  The commercial was on the right channel to reach a young African-American male, interested in hip hop music and a frequent Burger King customer. The effectiveness of the commercial is obvious, because I can still recall it today (for the wrong reasons). However, the broken communication spoken “at” me assumed a homogeneous target, a stereotype even. I was familiar with the rap-like delivery of the voice-over and the “urban” graphic type-style, but in the end I felt patronized. At the time, I had no knowledge of advertising, marketing, demographics, or psychographics. I just knew that on other television channels, I “saw” a concept and “heard” Burger King speak in plain English using complete sentences.

  Speak Like a Native

  Your design, packaging, or creative concept should be so on target that women responding to your website for birth control should have no idea if it was designed by a man. The upscale audience for the Maserati you are designing for should have no idea that you aren’t rich. Work for any ethnic groups should strike the right tone so as to not hinder communication.

  My experience with the Burger King commercial serves as my reminder to seek to understand the diverse groups I speak to on behalf of clients. And it’s bigger than just color. The psychographic nuances (or attitudes and beliefs of subsegments within a specific group or surrounding a certain product) span across cultures. This fact serves as the basis to increase representation of all voices in advertising and design—not just the underrepresented ones. Getting the details and tone right not only facilitates communication with every potential customer, it actually increases the probability of being heard. The key is to first understand that you are not the target and then to fully immerse yourself in learning who the target is.

  The bottom line is that all voices are needed, both in front of and behind the concept, marketing plan, or digital strategy. This defines the role of an advertising or design practitioner and will be what defines success in an ever-changing dialogue. The successful student or professional will be skilled in creating an ongoing dialogue around products and services. To cultivate one-to-one relationships, brands will need professionals who have been trained to integrate a relevant message into a variety of channels.

  Now that you are familiar with

  the words behind the pictures—key business terms you need to know,

  being unified with the team crafting messages,

  features, benefits, and values, and

  the creative strategy framework,

  we can move forward to obtain a greater understanding of the connections between the brand and the target. In this chapter, we will delve into getting to know and understand the target’s wants and needs enough to align the right elements within a strategy to inspire relevant work.

  Getting Through the Clutter

  We are all bombarded with thousands of marketing messages or ads a day. In order for your message to cut through the clutter, it must not only look beautiful, it has to be relevant. Yet even “beautiful and relevant” is not enough. The message must also be delivered in a channel that the target is most likely to come in contact with. Have you ever wondered when you were being briefed on a project, Why are we designing this as a print newspaper ad again? Does our target still read those? Or It’s cool we are designing this app, but wouldn’t the text be too small for senior citizens? Maybe you’ve wondered in the back of your mind if the teens you were developing the website for were most likely to access the Internet through their phones or communicate through social media exclusively.

  Other times, the question concerns the credibility of the tone or format of the communications. Is that how this brand usually communicates visually? Sometimes things just don’t add up. Your instincts as a designer may alert you when something is off and the approach, channel, or design doesn’t seem within the brand’s personality. These types of decisions on where and how to build the relationship between the brand and the target are important decisions the client is concerned with—and they may be looking to you for a recommendation.

  Many a marketing team and brand manager are concerned with:

  Increasing repeat sales through engaging the target customer

  Developing communications that are in line with the brand and differentiate the product or service they are trying to sell

  Integrating the brand in a unified way across multiple touchpoints or channels

  Over time, I’ve come to understand that relevance equals response. Whether you are tasked with developing the identity for a brand’s launch or are part of a team tasked with defining or redefining its core values, a deep understanding of the brand and target is essential. Let’s start with the brand.

  Whom Are We Speaking For? Seeking Inspiration Within the Brand/Product/Service

  Reaching your target is a lot easier when you know the brand well. What is a “brand”? The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as “a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as di
stinct from those of other sellers.” Brand legend and American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) medalist Walter Landor puts it this way on the AIGA website: “Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.”

  In the Harvard Business Review “Case Study: Brands and Branding,” author Douglas B. Holt defines a brand in personal terms as “the product as experienced and valued by the customer in everyday life.”

  However you best understand what a brand is, these quotes help clarify the marketing and business objectives you’re likely to encounter. You may have heard terms like brand differentiation, brand preference, and brand loyalty. These are some of the most sought-after goals. Understanding what’s in a brand’s heritage will help you and your team tell stories using the tangible aspects of the brand most familiar to creatives. (Search YouTube for “Johnnie Walker: The Man Who Walked Around the World” for a brilliant example of using brand heritage in storytelling.)

  TAPPING INTO A BRAND’S VALUES

  I love this quote from publisher and author William Feather: “The philosophy behind much advertising is based on the old observation that every man is really two men—the man he is and the man he wants to be.” When you look closely, you can see that companies do indeed play to both consumers. Companies post their manifestos in stores, “go green,” and go to great lengths to tell the public what their values are. Be sure you are taking your client’s values into account when you think of creative solutions.

  You can break down the brand into a few components:

  The identity of the brand is expressed in its logo, typography, color palette, packaging, and retail environment.

  The tone of the brand is expressed in the attitude of the copy, voice-over, or composition of the layout.

  The values of the brand are expressed in the channels the brand’s messaging is communicated in, the associations or partnerships it fosters, and the processes the brand uses to do business (think recycling for environmental values, or charities the brand donates to for social or cultural values).

  Know Thy Target Like the Back of Thy Hand

  Now for the target. When they need to be reminded, I’ll ask my creative teams, “Why do jeans have two legs?” Sensing that this may be a trick question but unsure why I’m asking something I clearly know the answer to, they respond with the obvious answer. The point is my version of the modern architectural and industrial design principle “form follows function.” The reason you design a print campaign should be that your target reads periodicals in paper format. The reason you create an app should be the quantifiable fact that your target makes up a significant portion of smartphone users.

  It all starts from an intimate knowledge of your target. Their media behavior, or how they access information, should determine where you communicate to them. With this understanding, it’s important that you research or are given a clear picture of whom you are talking to. This may seem obvious, but I am often surprised at how vague descriptions of the ideal customer for a product or service can be. If you aren’t given exact specifics in the form of demographics, psychographics, and behavioral and attitudinal characteristics, you are basically stabbing in the dark. Seek clarity from the appropriate people when your target isn’t clear. Doing this will save you and the creative team countless hours of execution time. Do it right or do it twice.

  The Reasons Behind the Purchase

  As you get to know your target through studying their behavior, now you can seek to understand the values and psychology behind why they do what they do.

  Most marketing and business programs mention Maslow’s hierarchy of needs when delving into consumer behavior. Saul McLeod of SimplyPsychology.org explains it this way: “Maslow wanted to understand what motivates people. He believed that people possess a set of motivation systems unrelated to rewards or unconscious desires. Maslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on.”

  MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

  SO MASLOW AND I WALKED INTO A BAR

  It also wouldn’t hurt to mention the Maslovian approach in your pitch, justification, or strategy if it helped you arrive at an insight. This could even raise trust (and eyebrows) among the suits when they hear that your creative solutions are rooted in principles of psychology. For example, when talking about the underlying need that the target has for esteem or status based on their lifestyle choices and purchase history, we would justify a crest design element, gold foil on the packaging, or the strategy to position the product as higher quality because of the price. It’s our job to understand and then leverage underlying motivations within the target to build a connection with the brand.

  If you look at the diagram, you’ll see that at the most basic level are the needs that sustain life itself, or biological and physiological needs. At the top is the more abstract need of self-actualization. When brainstorming creative approaches or developing potential solutions, try to understand the underlying motivation the target has for the product. This approach may inspire some interesting questions. For example, think of the “Reassuringly Expensive” tagline used by the Belgian lager Stella Artois from 1982 to 2007 in the UK. Though this was the creative business solution to turn a negative (higher prices due to import duties) into a positive, it makes the point that there is something deeper driving the outward behavior.

  Brand Preference

  Most of us have become weary of marketing messaging and therefore most of us avoid them when we can and ignore them when we can’t. However, there are some brands that probably have your undivided attention. So what’s the difference? In order to figure out why certain brands “speak” to you, identify your favorite brand in a category or two—your favorite ice cream, ski resort, or car company. The reasons could be based on what is actual (what you do now) or aspirational (how you’d like to be perceived)—it doesn’t matter because they are your favorites for a reason and it’s time to understand why. Ask yourself these questions:

  What is it about the language that is used in the ads, brochure, video, packaging, or website that speaks to you? Why?

  What words do they use that catch your attention and what do they mean to you?

  What underlying Maslow need are they speaking to in you?

  When you can articulate these answers for yourself, you’ll be better equipped to choose the right vocabulary for your targets.

  Turning Words Into Inspiration

  Once you learn to speak the language like a native, and can determine the underlying need for what your client is selling, you can use visual language to speak in a way that prospects want to hear. Remember these points:

  Your target should not see the designers or team behind the work, only the brand in front of them. Your language and visuals should connect the brand and the target through consistency.

  To get to know your target on a deeper level, let them tell you who they are through their behavior. The more familiar you are with a target, the more effectively you can speak to them.

  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can help you pinpoint the underlying reason driving the purchase of a product or service. Zero in on what the real need is that is being addressed so your creative solutions speak directly to it.

  Identify why your favorite brands capture your loyalty. Personalizing the experience gives you an intimate knowledge of how to understand the target’s choices.

  5 The Cord-Cutter Struggle

  Understanding Features, Benefits, and Values

  Recently I purchased the two Sony UHD TVs I’d been researching in Best Buy for some time, and as a result needed to think through our streaming solutions. Over the years I had been watching the larger TVs become less and less expensive, even as the quality of the overall picture improved. As cord-cutters, our viewing behavior centers around streaming House of Cards on Netflix and Dancing with the Stars on Hulu, ordering movies like Star Wars on Vudu, and so on. As you know, the benefit of not sub
scribing to cable means you watch whatever you want, as much as you want, when you want, without expensive bundles or a show forcing you on the couch when it’s on. Those of you who also view your media without cable know that, when you upgrade your TV platforms, the effort and research to connect all the dots in a new ecosystem begins anew.

  So I found myself in the market for a new streaming solution for that one big hole in my new setup. After reading numerous reviews and watching product reviews on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, TiVo, and Roku, it was time to Uber on over to Best Buy.

  As I made my way to the electronics section, I had my eye on three main products: Roku Streaming Stick, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Apple TV. As I read each product’s packaging, I’d be joined by two women in their late fifties (one even had an Apple watch) all considering the same things that I was: online reviews, our personal preferences and needs, features, price, availability, compatibility, ease of user interface, and so on. After carefully considering each feature and the benefit it would provide for me in the context of my wants and needs, I’m happy with the results of my decision—or would be if only I could get faster Internet speeds.

  Value to the Consumer Is Expressed As Features and Benefits

  In Chapter 3, we covered the business and marketing objectives that brands are out to achieve, and my adventure in Best Buy highlights the importance of clearly articulated features and benefits during the education phase of the consumer journey. These items are what allow consumers to understand and weigh the points of parity (how these products are the same) with the points of differentiation (how these products are different) to arrive at the right decision for them. My companions in the electronics aisle at Best Buy—the two tech-savvy grandmothers—were looking at the same set of products I was, and though we came to different conclusions based on the features and benefits, we all needed to educate ourselves before making our decisions. Our underlying values were similar: We could no longer see the point of wasting hundreds of dollars on hundreds of bundled channels we didn’t watch.